I've noticed a message about the year in pictures for 2021, from various websites and publications,and the message is:
"It isn't pretty. Are you SURE you want to look back?"
While I couldn't fully read the New York Times version, since I decided it isn't healthy to digest a steady diet of bad news, my glimpse at the headline before it got covered over by advertising messages promised a photo album of the apocalypse, with cities covered in dust.
(Hey, if I want to see things covered in dust I need look no farther than my own living room, amiright?)
While 2020, as I wrote at this time last year, may have been
"a nonstop series of life or death storms for our little
planet," 2021 has been more like one BIG storm that never seems to end.
Just when you think it's safe to peek your head outside, you get blasted back under your rock by the howling wind of another Covid variant.
And sometimes by the ACTUAL howling wind as well.
We've read the positive-thinking books. We've got the meditation apps.
We know that it's important to have a positive mindset, in order to bring more positive things into our businesses and lives ....
But it's a Catch-22 when negativity comes flying at us day after day after day, for years.
No blowing smoke here, this is a very long slog up a very steep hill.
It isn't easy. And it isn't over.
So how should we look back and remember 2021?
My suggestion is, don't.
Don't look back.
Look forward.
Keep going.
Envision the good that you want to do in the world and focus on that with laser vision.
Because everything else is going to heck in a handbasket, and there's nothing we can do about it.
Just focus on your circle of influence and make the positive changes you can in your world and life... and especially in your courses and teaching work.
What is the specific change you're here to make in the world, and how can you best achieve that?
What will it take to make that happen, given all the odds that are stacked against all of us on this planet, right now?
Here's how my version of that looks (I'd love to hear yours!):
I'm here to help people create effective and engaging online courses that really DELIVER on the transformation they promise.
An important goal of my business is to take the stress and overwhelm out of online course design.
I'm like a professional organizer for your mind... helping you structure and display the aspects of your expertise you want to share with the world, in ways that (as Marie Kondo famously puts it) "spark joy" for you and your course participants.
In the midst of the swirling chaos, crazy weather, and general mayhem of the past year, it's been a source of great joy to celebrate my coaching clients' and course participants' successes as they launch their courses and deliver meaningful transformation that beautifully expresses their life's work.
I truly couldn't ask for anything more.
Your course content...
before and after
applying the
Course Design
Formula® to it!
How about you? Despite everything that's going on outside your sphere of influence,
what have you been able to focus on in 2021 that WAS in your control?
What's the difference your work and teaching made in the world this past year?
As you look back on 2021, what pictures do you see in your own mind,
that reflect the impact your work has made on others' lives?
When you're out there on a stormy ocean, it helps to have a group of fellow travelers to help you reach your goal.
For each of us, our guiding mission and vision
serves as the beacon that keeps us on track no matter what the external conditions are...
and our community is our group of fellow travelers to support us in reaching our goals.
In 2021, our community met every week on Saturdays to brainstorm and synergize about how to survive and thrive with online courses and online business in these challenging times.
The members of the Learn and Get Smarter community are experts in many fields, and we shared ideas and pooled our expertise on topics ranging from systems thinking to human behavior to software development... and of course, teaching and learning.
As a result, we all learned and got smarter. We created a community of practice around transformational online teaching, and a weekly practice of building community and supporting each other in these very challenging times.
I'm thankful for the participation and sharing, the generosity of spirt, and the sheer brilliance, that the members of this community have shared with each other and with me. Thank you for being who you are and for doing what you do.
What's your mission and vision for teaching online,
and what beacons and landmarks have you set for yourself
to head towards in 2022?
If you’d like to make creating an online course that really teaches at a deep level, a priority in the new year,
schedule a time NOW to talk with me
about whether the Course Design Formula® Master Course (starting January 18th, 2022) is right for you.
Spaces are limited so book your call now.
Join the January 2022 cohort
of the Course Design Formula® Master Course.
CLASS STARTS JANUARY 18TH, 2022
Book your enrollment interview now!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being part of this community, for your vision,
and all your hard work to make the world a better place in these challenging times.
I hope that 2022 will be a year filled with blessings, growth, and service
for you and your students, clients, community, and family.
We'll resume the Saturday community meetings on January 8th, 2022.
Have a great holiday season and I will see you next year!
